Unburdened

After long thought, I put my spinning wheel up for sale on Ravelry. It was a hard decision, I loved it when I bought it.

The problem came after I'd flown out to Colorado and both parents came down with C Diff. They were so sick, and they were impaired mentally as well as physically while sick. I guess the best thing to say about it is: it was a very difficult situation. That misery attached itself to the wheel, since I had brought it along to destress while I was there. I was miserable every time I tried to spin on it.

Yesterday it sold. SUCH a feeling of relief! I will buy a different wheel at another time, and it won't have the misery attached. As for this one, the new, excited owner won't have the angst attached and will love it. Win-win!

Spinning

Today I've spent spinning. It was FUN! I had to figure out a new Lazy Kate, it took a bit, but I managed to spin up all of one fiber that I'd prepped up. I decided to put the rest of the Cormo aside until later, and am spinning up bits of this and that which I had on hand. Clearing up the fier stash! Whee!

I do have to admit an embarrassing mistake. I washed some gorgeous yarn that my knit buddy had spun up. (She told me it needed to be washed.) I rinsed and rinsed. Suddenly realized that this yarn has firestar. Well duh! Those weren't bits of bubbles from the soap I used, it was the glitter added to the yarn! grin

Whee!

I didn't think I would, but I finished Wallaby #3 today! It was a slog, as asthma kicked in again, and I had a rough time just knitting. But it is done! I plan to take an "artistic" shot tomorrow, showing the colors but not the way the 2 sweaters actually look, so there will be SOME surprise when they arrive!

I'd planned to spin today, but made the mistake of starting an 800+ page book that is an e-book. Ya know, that is NOT conducive to spinning! sigh The Woolie Winder arrived this week, so I want to try it out before I head out for Colorado again!

My new Wheel!

Isn't it beautiful! I love it! We were having "discussions" today, as I wasn't getting the flyer firmly seated, and it would suddenly come flying out at me. Disconcerting, to say the least! But, Howard was able to get it to seat properly. I will keep practicing. I'm spinning Cormo, which isn't the most forgiving fiber I've spun. For the most part it is doing beautifully. I believe all bobbles are user error.

I can see that I will want to purchase a Woolie Winder for this. I'm biased, I loved it on the other wheel, and want it for this one. Other than that, it is perfect! I'm so looking forward to traveling with this.

Even if Mabel and Mary pointed out to me today that trying to spin with it in the car was not one of my wiser ideas. sniffle. That's all right, it will do really well in Colorado with me. I wonder if Tora-chan is still as hopelessly attracted to wool as she was when she lived with us?

Um, Possibilities

Isn't this a wonderful array of possibilities? I've been thinking in those terms ever since I walked in the fabric store while visiting Nathan and Kim. There were just so many things this wonderful collection could BECOME! It can be this or that or the other. It is up to me to choose wisely (fitting fabric to pattern correctly) and then sew well.

Some of the fabrics seemed to be really out of character for me. Yet they sang to me. They called to be brought home. And, as you can see, they did. They are all now washed, ready for me to make the final decisions. As the ad says, "Umm, ... possibilities!"

Speaking of possibilities, I really that one of the reasons I really don't knit with my handspun is again possibilities. As long as it hasn't been knit up, it remains in the realm of "possibilities." It could be A or B or C. All of it is up to me. BUT if I knit it up it is now fixed. It is no longer a maybe, and a dream.

Perhaps I need to learn to move on from dreaming

Whee!

I have a new spinning wheel! I am so thrilled! I'll show pictures tomorrow. Tonight, having spent 6+ hours in the car to pick it up, I am womanfully refraining from putting it together and spinning all night! LOL

I did however, get a lot knit in the car. The sweater is up to the neck. Somewhat miraculous, when you think about how a raglan sweater is knit in the round. Who was the wise person who realized that it could be knit that way?

That sweater has been a victim of my knitting mishaps. I read Geina's note as to her daughters sizes. I really did. Several times. Then proceeded to start knitting without looking at her note again. My memory is really "special" right now. Sian won't be able to fit into it for several years, at the rate she is growing. I am finishing this for someone else, and have bought new yarn for Sian's sweater. Disappointing, I was hoping for the same color, but I couldn't find it when I looked. She will be getting a GREEN sweater, just not the original shade planned.

As a testament to my organizational skills (grin) I brought along the yarn to start Beth's sweater today. Luckily I didn't finish with this one, because I forgot to bring along the needles to do the ribbing! I don't know what is going on with my thought processes, but I don't like it!

Friday's post a bit late

I had a fun day at the fair yesterday. Walked quite a distance to get to the demo place carrying a lot of wool, some drop spindles, and a travel mug with a beverage (it was HOT!) DH carried the wheel and more wool. I noticed as I was spinning that I do a lot of twisting as I spin. That must have a LITTLE health benefit, with all of the arm movement that happens! LOL

The children were interested in treadling the wheel, not spinning itself. I brought my wheel that is almost indestructable just because of that. The other wheels LOOK like what people think a spinning wheel should look like, but they aren't going to hold up to children. Um, there is also the small detail that I don't know if I can fit them in our car! LOL This one sits on the back seat, and can be fastened in with a seat belt. I spun up a rather heavy thread for each child that wanted one (they got to choose the color from the different ones I had on hand) and I made it into a bracelet for them. Some of the 4-H kids were gratified that I had brought wool from their sheep (from a previous year.)

One teenaged girl made about 5 feet of yarn, and seemed to enjoy it. She took my card, she may call for lessons. A college aged student and 3 adults also took my card. We'll see.

We then went shopping, and walked all over the store. DH needed clothes for the trip, of course where he needed to go was the very back of the store, then we needed something on the FAR side of the store (and they didn't have it...) On to Barnes and Noble, one of my favorite stores. Upstairs, downstairs, left, right. More walking. New books...

I walked more Thursday than since I broke that bone in my foot! The foot was sore, but not horribly.

We went to dinner, and I really thought I'd gone WAY over in calories for the day. But when I input the information for dinner last night, combined with the rest of the day, I was just barely under my minimum! I suppose if I'd been able to eat the sauteed vegetables that came with my order I'd have gone over. But after sending the meal back once because they had put stuff on it that I'm allergic to, it wasn't worth fighting. I just didn't touch anything that had come in contact with the vegetables. sigh When you are allergic to most herbs, just sauteing without herbs in the same skillet that you normally use doesn't get eliminate the herbs! We'd planned to go swimming after dinner, but it was getting late since we had to get up at 4AM. I don't do that (get up that early) for just anyone! LOL

As I drove home after dropping DH off at the airport, I had the treat of watching the sun rise over corn and soy fields. There had been fog in some areas after the rain the night before, it was lifting as I got there and looked as if there was a fire -- all these dark clouds just about tree level. Even more fun, I got home BEFORE DH's flight had even taken off! It was close, they boarded as I got the last things in the house.

I shipped the essential item that he forgot, to be delivered Monday.

Ya never know...

Saturday was our knitting get-together. 3 others showed up, and we enjoyed a good chat. I had, unfortunately brought knitting that was beyond my prednisone level (I don't know quite how else to decribe it -- I couldn't DO it!) and hadn't brought anything else to do. The time before that I'd brought a spindle.

When we left, I felt as if I hadn't made a difference. That this time I'd just not gotten it right. Whatever "it" is. Yesterday I received an e-mail and a call from Mary, thanking me for the session. She commented that Deb and she had both gotten so much out of it. Which stunned me.

I guess I need to accept that it doesn't matter that I think I did badly, so long as I keep trying, and others benefit from my actions.

Today I needed to go to the hospital for a test. Just as I got there Respiratory Therapy was called with an emergency. I'd come prepared, though. I pulled out my handy dandy spindle and spun away. No stress or worry, just enjoy the lovely merino flowing through my hands. Delightful!

Sheesh, subtitled, do you know how long this will take?

Some time ago Belinda sent me some wonderful Australian merino roving. In fact, she sent 128 grams (says so on the original package.) I have been spinning on this and spinning on this. For some unknown reason (probably due to the donor! Look at her PictureTrail album and marvel at her knitting and spinning!) I've been spinning this laceweight. That means it is taking me a LONG time to spin this up. For example, today I spun for close to 2 hours. With the earlier singles that had been spun on the spindle (Anne Grout acorn spindle) I have a total of 6 freaking grams! of singles spun! There is something very wrong with this picture! After all of my spinning, I still have 85 grams left to spin up. This feels almost like the Aegean Stables. I can spin the rest of my life and still have this gorgeous roving left to spin up! LOL That straw in the foreground is my 6 grams of fiber -- you can see how fine the single I'm spinning is. The middle section is fiber that has been separated but not attenuated. The back is the original fiber. Perhaps I should give up and spin it perhaps -- worsted weight?! Don't get me wrong, I love spinning this, it is just scrumptious to spin up! But it is NOT a quick and easy spin!

After spinning up a spindle-full, I decided to try to Navajo ply this bit. Um, not one of my more successful attempts. I'll try again on a different spindle/wheel, and see if I can get it to work better. I like the idea of Navajo plying, as it will keep the colors together better. But today's plying efforts were cack-handed. They wound up in the trash instead.

A short thought

This one struck close to home tonight, as I tried to Navajo ply some lace-weight yarn that I spun up. The results weren't pretty. It is the first time to try this technique. I'd like to do it, as I'm spinning up a variegated roving. (Thanks Belinda!) Okay, the first attempt didn't soar as I had hoped. Perhaps it is because I tried to ply in on the same spindle that I'd spun the singles. I don't know. Whatever, I'll keep trying. It isn't a failure until I give up, right?

Spinning at the Fair

By the way, I did check with the Extension Office, and they are interested in me demo-ing spinning at the County Fair. I'm trying to decide if I should bring some cheap drop spindles (toy wheel spindles? CD spindles?) for people to experiment. I could send the spindles home with some of the 4-H fleeces that I had made into roving. The roving has vegetable matter in it, but it would at least give them the idea of what is to be done.

I figure I'll take at least the 2 smaller wheels -- I don't know if I can get the walking wheel (is that the name for it? can't remember tonight and am feeling lazy about looking it up!) in our car to take it! It needs repairs, so I don't think it would be worthwhile to take it anyway.

I will be doing the demonstration after the sheep show and before the bottle lamb judging, so the timing should be fairly good to catch the interest of people interested in sheep! Maybe next year it can expand -- we'll see.

Whee!

Saw the doctor today about the foot. Much to all of our delight, the bone is still in place! I'm in the boot for at least another 5 weeks, then it is up to the x-ray and pain level to find out how much longer. As one of the nurses there in the office said, "Well, it is your own fashion statement." I did ask him what cardio exercise I could do. He stopped for a bit, looked at me and said, "moving your arms a lot."

I brought my Anne Grout laceweight Acorn Spindle with the gorgeous Australian merino roving in multi-colored browns from the lovely Belinda Daniels with me to the doctor's office. Put the little bowl in my lap and S T R E T C H E D my arm up as high as it could go before winding on each time. Received some bemused looks, but hey, I was productive! The X-ray tech looked at me and asked what I was doing. I explained. She said, "Hey you are actually SPINNING the yarn! That is why they call it that!" There was a gentleman waiting who commented that I was getting my aerobic exercise doing that. After I went back for the x-ray he started questioning Howard on exactly what I was doing and other fiber info. As we left to go into an exam room he thanked Howard for "an informative chat." smile I thought, while I was sitting waiting for the doctor that I really should call the Extension office and see if they would like a spinning demo at the fair this summer.

Rats!

I don't know if it is the foot or asthma, but it is hard to post right now. I'm not getting any knitting done either, which leads me to believe I need to be checking my asthma a bit closer. I see the doctor tomorrow about the foot. I'm supposed to be using an Ace bandage to wrap it, but that hurts so much! grump! I would think that after 2 weeks (as of today!) it wouldn't. Poor Howard tries so hard to wrap it without causing pain. As he said tonight in frustration -- it doesn't do any good to wrap it, since it is so loose it won't hold it in place! I am not able, so far to wrap it myself -- I tend to get it too tight, which isn't pleasant.

The sweater that I frogged has gone all of 2 rows. I suspect I need to make it in something other than garter stitch because I just plain get BORED if I don't change colors or something to break up the monotony! Sad but true! I managed a couple of rows of the socks and stopped them too. sigh This is how projects become abandoned! I need something fun but fairly simple to knit. Ideas? NO endless knitting, as in a felted/fulled project. Something that will keep my interest without requiring a lot of thought.

I' ve been chatting about spinning with someone on
Sparkpeople.com and my interest is becoming piqued again. Maybe I'll take the acorn support spindle and the lovely merino from Australia with me when we go to the doc's tomorrow. That will be something fun and different for them to see! LOL Too bad the staff knows me so well there! What is nice, they like to check out what I'm doing! I've thought several times about spinning on one of the wheels since I managed this stupid idiocy of breaking the foot, but am worried that it will hurt too much! I should just DO IT (thanks to the sports commercial!) and see, instead of wondering!

Still not skeined off the yarn so I can over-dye it. Can you say "chicken!" Or is it "lazy!" I think the best idea would be to knit several samples then try different dye solutions to see which works the best. The idea of so much work just to get the right results stops me. Silly me! It isn't going to become a summer shell if I don't! Perhaps it would be a good idea to have more than a warm brown and a gold on hand when I start that off! I have a cool taupe yarn, do I need more colors to change it to the warm spectrum? Since the yarn is linen/cotton/wool, I know that acid dyeing will only over-dye the wool. I'm hoping that will be enough. What do you think? Yeah, I know, sample! I'd still like opinions!

On a completely unrelated front, we've started buying washing soda for laundry. Yesterday I spilled something on my linen shirt. I'm amazed at how well soaking it overnight in washing soda/water did to eradicate the stain! Not to mention my poor hand-knit dishcloths that were so badly stained. Actually, I forgot about them and it went more than 18 hours before I washed them. The stain on the shirt had disappeared, and the dishcloths were so much improved, I was amazed! The dishcloths were knit by a dear friend from New York who has since died of breast cancer. I think of Edie every time I use them. She was getting on in years when we met her, dishcloths and lap-robes were the only thing she knit by then, as she felt anything else was too hard. She sold most of her dishcloths as a supplement to their Social Security and retirement funds. We were honored to receive them as gifts. So, I'm delighted to be able to get the stains out. She would have been hurt if we didn't use them as she intended. But the sad truth is that they will stain as they are used. The color of Peaches and Creme fades. But they were knit with love, and I appreciate that so much!

Howard stayed home with a cold today. I have to be honest and say I'm really hopeful that I don't get it! The poor guy is miserable!

Samson's Fleece

Remember that the kids gave me an alpaca fleece? I decided that I'd rinse it before I sent it in to be processed. I think, looking at the washing machine afterwards, it was a good idea. What do you think? For some reason, after looking at this, I ran the washing machine with hot water, laundry detergent and plenty of bleach! LOL

I think I'm going to have this blended with a Shetland fleece, but I've not decided. Part of me wonders about a Rambouillet, but the idea of not having to buy anything else to go with this...

My Bad

I announced the other day that Nathan and Kim had gifted me with a car. I've been enjoying the freedom of being able to hop in it and drive. Thank you again!

Yesterday evening while Howard was at church, I realized that my drive band on the Louet S-10 had gone bad. It was not allowing the Woolie Winder to feed evenly. You can see the problem here. So I cut the drive band -- after trying to figure out how to get it off the wheel (as far as I can tell it is there to stay!) and went to the local farmers supply store. You know, one of those that has almost everything? A fun place to explore. I had called first to make sure they had O-rings. I got there, asked where they were, and a perky young thing told me she'd take me, as she knew where they were. We got there, and she showed me -- the largest was 3 inches across. My face must have shown something, because she asked, "How big of one do you want?"

"I just happen to have brought my old one" I said and pulled it out. Her expression was startled.
"I've not seen one that size before!" she said. So we went up to the front where she showed someone else the band and asked him where one would be. His face was startled as well.

"I don't think we have anything, but let's ask ..."

So we proceeded into the depths of the store to find ..." While we headed that way, I heard announced on the loudspeaker "Will the owner of the red Tempo please come to the front desk!"

I hurried up front, wondering what was going on. "Your car started rolling across the parking lot!" I'm sure my face went white! I raced out the door, afraid of what I'd see. There the car was, away from other cars, just as I'd parked it, just forward a bit. A wonderful woman who had been shopping with her children told me "I saw a man beside the car and it was moving. I asked if it was his and he said no. So I opened the door, got in and put it in gear. Your emergency brake didn't hold." I thanked her profusely!

Went back in, and was met by the 2 clerks who had continued to check on my drive band situation. The store didn't have anything that would help, but they had done a fantastic job trying to find something.

Howard says that I'd told him earlier that the emergency brake doesn't hold well, and the car must be left in gear. I don't remember that. I will remember from now on to put the brake on and also leave it in gear! Thank God that I had decided to park away from other cars and walk. If it hadn't been stopped, it would eventually have rolled into the embankment at the edge of the parking lot and stopped, as that is too steep for the car to roll up. But still... If I had parked somewhere else, I could have hit another car!

I got home, and ordered new drive band material. Enough for 2 drive bands, on the theory that if I have 2, the new one won't go out. If I only have 1, it will. Since I needed to finish up what I was spinning, I cut about 4 inches out of the old drive band and burned it together again. About 120 yards of a bulky weight Cormo. Looks good. I forgot to take a picture before it was popped in the mail.

Samson's Fleece

I played with the fleece today. There is one section of the cinnamon color that is heavily contaminated with vegetable matter. In fact, some was so bad I threw it out. Other areas were beautiful. Those I saved. I'd thought to separate the white from the cinnamon, but in the end I didn't. That is after making 3 piles, of course, of the closest to white, the cinnamon with white and the cinnamon. In the end, they all went into the same bag to be processed together.

In the Mail!

I received TWO surprises in the mail today. The first is a wonderful package from Florence in Belgium. She was my gifting partner -- I'm not sure of the correct term, it was set up so each person A spun up 100 grams of yarn for person B and person C spun up 100 grams of yarn for person A -- in Spin Me A Treasure. As you can see, she also sent that necessity for a spinner --chocolate! Some candy hard and something that looks to be similar to StarBurst. There is a picture of the lamb that donated the fleece, her name is Gotti. Two packets of Easter Egg dye in case I don't like the color. And a note about her yarn. The yarn is Gottland lamb and bombyx silk -- there are about 380 meters in the skein. Yummy, don't you think? I had to do a closeup of the yarn, as it is exquisite.




Then, from my Mystery Skein Swap partner I got this! The idea is to mail at least 100 grams of yarn to your partner, who manufactures something from it, and mails it back to you. The mystery is in the fact that you don't have a clue what is going to be made from your yarn. This skein is wool that was recovered from a sweater. Decisions, decisions. My partner would like something felted, as she would have to felt by hand.

2006 Wrap-up

I finished Margaret's socks. I had actually almost finished one Tuesday while we drove Serena to Omaha, but realized, to my chagrin, that it wasn't long enough. FROG! the toe. Started again to finish it Wednesday, didn't take pictures until they were dry. I realized why I made such an error after the gusset on one sock, I reversed the pattern on one of the socks! Not intentionally, just did it. You can see it better in this picture. Darn it! Maybe Margaret can consider them left and right socks!

Here is my list of completed projects for 2006, there were several months that I wasn't able to knit due to medication problems, so my totals are down this year:
Knit Totals
Afghan 1
Helmetliners 1
Mittens (pairs) 2
Scarves 4
Shawls 3
Sweaters 4
Socks (pairs) 4
Vests 2
Facecloth 1
Soapsack 1

Spinning totals
I only started spinning again in December.
Worsted weight 200 yards bunny/cormo
DK weight 104 grams Cormo
Sport weight 108 gr alpaca/mohair
Lace weight 50 gr (to be finished in 2007)

Spinning

Well, I finished my skein of alpaca/mohair. I'm not happy with it, my plying needs to be improved. But it looks gorgeous in the skein, doesn't it! LOL I did get it to sport weight range -- 16 WPI! That's the finest I've spun yet. I do want to be able to spin finer, but I'm happy with this!

This is what is on Serena's Sleeping Beauty Wheel. It is a saxony wheel, right now, as you can see, I'm using the regular flyer. I'm confused as to why there are the whorls for the bobbin and the flyer. I've been spinning like this.
Am I actually supposed to be spinning like this? No directions came with this wheel, I'm winging it!

Found out the problem with the bulky flyer -- when Howard picked up the maiden for this part and said it was really loose. So, I asked him to tighten the screws that attached to two supports for the bulky flyer. Tah-dah! It no longer falls off. Why didn't I THINK OF THAT SOONER?

Amazing what one will do to avoid cleaning the house for the kids coming home! I pulled out the air mattress for the guest room today, the electric pump for it is --- in the storage unit (you saw that coming didn't you?) There is a foot pump, do you think I can get a queen size bed pumped up by Friday? Serena gets in really late Friday night -- in Omaha. We'll spend the night there, and drive home Saturday. Somehow, arriving home at 3-4 in the morning doesn't sound like one of my smarter ideas. But, the bed will need to be ready for her. Nathan and Kim will arrive Sunday. Then this house will be REALLY full, and there is going to be lots of laughter. How many games of Phase 10 will be playing this weekend?

Yarn Decision

As my swap partner wanted fine to sport weight yarn, I've decided that it isn't fair to gift her with heavier yarn. So, I'm back to spinning more. Right now I'm spinning some absolutely wonderful bittersweet chocolate colored alpaca/kid mohair that Serena gave me. She picked it up when Convergence was in Denver.

Now I know why they gave us a month! It takes THAT long to spin up several choices and decide!